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September
5, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 15Oakland,
CA
Mindanao provides model for peacemaking
I recently returned from the Philippines, where I participated
in an international conference on “Peace Building” on the
island of Mindanao. The conference was a creative effort to foster communication
between academics and practitioners, including people described as “on
the ground.”
The University of Notre Dame’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for International
Peace Studies, supported by Catholic Relief Services, provided the initiative
for this gathering. Those two groups have been cooperating in a visionary
project to study effective peace building in areas of conflict throughout
the world. They operate on the premise that Catholic social teaching makes
peace building a responsibility.
We were joined in the Mindanao effort with personnel from Maryknoll; the
Office of the International Justice and Peace of the Bishops’ Conference,
a center from the Catholic University of America; the Saint Egidio community
in the United States; and PAX Christi International. The aim of the conference
was to engage with people involved in the peace process in the local area
and to provide for a wide audience an information center for the best
practices relating to peace.
Our visiting group involved 75 people from 21 countries, including a Dominican
priest from Burundi, an organizer from Sudan, and a seminary rector from
Uganda (who thought it would be a good idea if I went there next year
to give a retreat). East Timor was represented, as were India and Pakistan.
There were participants from Haiti and Colombia as well as Sweden, the
Netherlands and the United Kingdom. We were in the Philippines not to
teach but to listen and learn.
Our gathering started in Davao, Mindanao’s principal city. Our group
divided to spend the first two days in one of four places to view active
Filipino programs. I went to the seminary in the Diocese of Kidapawan,
a place I had visited 26 years ago. We were exposed to a remarkable dialogue
that included Catholics, other Christians, and Muslim representatives.
The dialogue also included representatives of 25 different ethnic groups
who are an indigenous minority on the island.
With a sense of sophistication the Filipino Catholics told us that dialogue
is not a strategy for conversions but an essential element to promote
understanding in our mission as Christians, a position elucidated by Pope
Paul VI in 1964.
Bishop Romulo Valles told us of years of isolation, when he would drive
through hostile Muslim villages without making any contact, a condition
that has radically changed thanks in large part to the bishop’s
inclusive efforts.
I was impressed with the freedom of the grassroots people to speak and
the encouragement they were given to do so. One would have to be impressed
too with the leadership of Filipino women, including Myla Leguro, an important
organizer of our conference, who has been recommended for the Nobel Peace
Prize.
We followed our listening experience with three days of presentations
and conversation. We appreciated the perspective of Islam and the indigenous
peoples. The Filipinos clearly showed that their association with one
another had resulted in respect and even friendship. They graciously opened
themselves to our presence.
We heard reports of the violent years — 1997 and 2001 to 2003. We
learned, too, of the roots of conflict from Jesuit Bishop Francisco Claver.
He told us that Mindanao was Muslim for 300 years but the Spanish occupation,
the American and then the Filipino establishment all made an effort to
subjugate and assimilate them.
The year 1913 was mentioned many times. I had not known that was the year
that General John C. Pershing set the U.S. policy of bringing settlers
from the north to Mindanao. In 1913, 76 percent of the population was
Muslim. By 1939, it was reduced to 34 percent. In 1990 it fell to nearly
14 percent.
I could not help but compare it to Northern Ireland (where I had been
in June for the ordination of our Father Aidan McAleenan) with its similar
background of being overtaken by new settlers. I also thought of the words
of a local Irish priest that there was little left of a center. No doubt
the conversation had moved to extremes. Not so in Mindanao.
I admired their premises. First of all, forgiveness is an expectation.
Dialogue is not a means to convert but to learn about the other and then
hopefully to serve. One woman told me how she and her partners realized
early in their dialogue that her Christian children would not be
safe unless the Muslim children also were safe.
Second, common effort mobilized local resources. The majority Catholic
community was convinced of the capability of the Church, with its parishes
everywhere and its presence within communities. It reminded me of my days
at the California Catholic Conference in Sacramento when a woman newly
appointed to prepare program policy for the elderly wanted to be in contact
with our parishes because, she said, “You have more parishes than
there are post offices.”
Third, the Mindanao efforts are backed by the large compendium of Catholic
social teaching in addition to the writings and directions of the Federation
of Asian Bishops Conferences, the document that came from the Synod of
the Church in Asia and, of course, the enormous resources of the religious
traditions represented: Dominican, Jesuit, Sacred Hearts, Maryknoll and
others.
Difficulties were alluded to. More than one Filipino referred to “imperial
Manila.” Some decried the large presence of military on the island.
They realized that globalization could damage some of their best efforts.
There was little reference to the Communist element and the rebel New
Peoples Army.
Despite the difficulties, the group operates with great conviction as
well as deep practical sense of their peacemaking accomplishments. A woman
from the village near Kidapawan told me simply how she and her neighbors
were now free to come out of their homes in the evening.
One of the Notre Dame people described this project as “powerfully
Catholic” with its clear directions from Scripture, the implications
that flow from the dignity of the human person and the promise of forming
community. I would add the teaching from the Second Vatican Council on
the Church in the Modern World.
The problems of peace and disarmament are not to be left to a few people.
Governments rely to a large extent on public opinion and public attitudes.
The Council document states, “Those engaged in the work of education,
especially education of youth, and the people who mold public opinion,
should regard it as their most important task, to instill peaceful sentiments
in people’s minds.” Mindanao is doing that.
Filipino Catholics find the roots of their social activism
in prayer and Scripture.
RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/Adrees Latif
